Wind and solar capacity at record high worldwide
- 1,000 Gigawatt Mark surpassed worldwid
- Total installed capacity has grown 65 times since the turn of the millennium
- 2,000 gigawatts forecast for 2023
For the green power pioneers, a dream is coming true: Worldwide, the 1,000 gigawatt mark of installed wind and solar power capacity has now been exceeded for the first time. In just five years – i.e. 2023 – this figure could double, and with almost 50 percent less investment.
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the installed capacity of 1,013 gigawatts (GW) is almost equally divided between wind energy with 54 percent and solar energy with 46 percent. As an industry service provider that primarily supplies the financial sector with analyses of the renewable energy market, the data is only estimated, but calculated very conservatively.
Fulminant growth figures
According to the figures, wind turbines with a total capacity of 523 GW are currently installed on land. Marine wind farms, on the other hand, account only for 19 GW. With 307 GW, large solar parks have now overtaken smaller solar plants. These, such as solar cells on residential buildings, currently account for 164 GW.
These figures are particularly impressive when one considers that the growth in the total installed capacity of wind and solar plants has increased 65 times since the turn of the millennium. In the last eight years alone, it has more than quadrupled.
2,000 GW forecast for 2023
Above all, the expansion speed of the solar boom is unbeatable: From only 8 GW of installed solar capacity in 2007, the expansion figures have expanded 57 times. Experts even expect the solar boom to pick up speed and overtake the wind market in the next few years.
BNEF experts estimate the costs for the first 1,000 GW at about 2.3 trillion US dollars and assume that the second 1,000 GW will be reached much faster and, above all, more cheaply – namely already by mid-2023 and with 46 percent less financial input. This rapid growth is made possible above all by the sharp drop in prices for new plants.